Our current Kim dictator traveled far and wide before he was given legitimacy, and long before he was announced as heir. He has probably eaten more foods than you or I have, because he did it on Daddy's purse. He has eaten hot dogs, I'm sure.

And just because the populace of DPRK isn't allowed certain food types...well, that's not going to stop him from stuffing his face with whatever the fuck he wants, whenever the fuck he wants.

So yeah. You can't hold a dictator to the same policies he enforces in his people.

It wasn't really a joke, I was just curious if there were any other seemingly arbitrary food restrictions since I have almost no knowledge of North Korean politics and law. I assumed Kim Jong Un wouldn't be beholden to such restrictions but am none the less interested.

It'd be great if like, the gang got caught and got taken to the North Korean leader, and when they got there it turned out that Ken Jeong's character had somehow become dictator of North Korea and lets them go.

Oh my god, that can be another twist! The North Koreans think he's Korean like them, and he's about to release them when Zach Galifianakis reveals that he's Chinese ("Don't you remember? You told us to suck on your Chinese nuts.") Then he's forced to escape with the rest of them.

I wonder if this guy is now going to associate drinking with life changing opportunity and he will become a super heavy drinker in South Korea, then wind up getting drunk and floating back up to North Korea.

Yea, I'm gonna go ahead and call bullshit. Best I could find was an article from February:

For years, human rights advocates have criticized China's refusal to recognize North Korean defectors and its policy of returning, or repatriating, all escapees from the North captured on its soil. Beijing's stance has taken on more urgency in recent weeks, after new North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to punish and even kill three generations of family members of anyone who tries to leave the impoverished North.

I had never heard of this "three generations" rule before, so maybe this was right around the time that he said it. But from a little research, absolutely nothing turned up claiming he was putting an end to it.

When drinking, going full retard is getting naked and losing control of your bodily functions. Ditching some articles of clothing and ending up in strange places (or less strange in this case) is par for the course.

North Korea is actually one of the larger producers of foods and produce in Asia, but trade of those goods is given priority over their own people's health and well-being. China is their primary trade partner, and North Korea also exports a lot of energy and raw materials used in electronics. The latter is particularly interesting because North Korea's mining is, like most of their business enterprises, run like a sort of gulag, which in turn makes it possible for them to export raw materials to China at a reduced rate, which in turn makes it possible for China to produce inexpensive electronic components, which in turn makes it possible for you and I to buy relatively inexpensive computers, iPhones, iPads and the like.

Anyhow, I "enjoyed" a glass of North Korean liquor a few days ago, which had been brought back from the demilitarized zone. Obviously this may not apply to all liqour from North Korea, but I found it smelled like car wax or some sort of chemical solvent. It tasted better than that, but was not what I would describe as particularly "good".

North Korea is actually one of the larger producers of foods and produce in Asia

This link shows North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) to have very low agricultural exports compared to South Korea, Indonesia, China, Japan or almost any country (click exports first if you follow the link).

Do you have sources for comparing food exports of the Asian countries?

In fact, Wikipedia seems to state they are not a great agricultural producer link. N Korea is not listed in any of the top agricultural categories either link.

Take a look at the CIA Factbook entry for North Korea. They've got a GDP of $28 billion, 23% of which is represented by the agricultural sector. This is small potatoes compared to a country like China or South Korea, but it's a heck of a lot more than countries like Mongolia, and for its size and population density it's actually quite good compared to other Asian countries. North Korea actually has more arable land than average, and you'll note in the Wikipedia entry you linked to that a great deal of North Korea's food production has been observed being wasted at times due to mismanagement. Perhaps describing North Korea as "one of the larger producers" was misleading, but their agricultural production is far better than most Westerners appear to realize.

Mongolia also only has a population of 2.7 million people. Per capita, Mongolias agricultural production (as a percentage of GDP, 20.6%) is more than 2 times greater than North Koreas. Hardly comparable. Not to mention the fact that Mongolia achieves this with a climate that is very unsuited to cropping and fruit etc. It has below 10% arable land according to the link you posted (compared to 20-30% for DPRK)

Which brings about the question of why is it so heavily imbibed? Ok, well it comes in a bottle about the size of a beer bottle. It's about 21% alc, so we can say that it's the strength of about 5 American beers.

If you'd like to learn more about North Korea there's actually a few interesting documentaries with far more information than you would expect. The VICE Guide to North Korea is particularly interesting, although a little quirky, and if you look around on YouTube there's three or four documentaries about different people who had escaped from North Korea's work or prison camps in to South Korea. The interviews with these people about their situations in North Korea are both surreal and horrific.

Thanks for the suggestion. I've read that some North Korean women are subject to state-mandated prostitution, but other than that I haven't really read much about how the lives of North Korean men and women differ, so this partcular book ought to be fairly interesting.

Hank: Well, Boomhauer has been here his mandated 72 hours so he can leave. And Dale, since you were never actually admitted, you're free to go. However they recommended that you keep taking your pills. And Bill, since you checked yourself in, you can leave whenever you want.

for some reason I call total bs on this. the coastal waters in the peninsula are patrolled by soldiers for fucken MILES with several layers of barbed wire on the coast. I KNOW this because I used to live near the border of North and South and this story does not make any sense. There have been North Koreans who plot missions for years to swim, and escape the north but THIS MUTHER FUKER just FLOATS ACROSS?

My favorite part was learning that the South Korean government doesn't force them back into North Korea against their will. It goes to show that there's a common struggle shared on both sides and the split in the two lands doesn't effect their love for their fellow man.

Are there any South Koreans here that can help get that guy some cash and help get him sorted?

I know reddit's not a personal army, but if an American bus driver can get $600k in donations for being made fun of, I'm guessing this dude deserves a little coin for escaping a totalitarian dictatorship, while drunk, in his underwear.

I'll be completely honest and say that I had no idea there was beer in North Korea.

Edit: I scrolled a bit down the comments and saw someone had posted a similar comment, but has since deleted it. I'll let mine stand because I was truly ignorant of the fact they had alcohol. I'm pretty happy I have learned though.